The history of mankind is usually represented as the tale of a long and painful struggle against nature, in which generations of mortals have through the ages, and by slow degrees, adapted themselves to their material environment, in order in turn to modify it to their own advantage.

We read how, after protecting himself against hunger and thirst, against extremes of weather, wild beasts, and hostile tribes, mortal man proceeded to make his existence more comfortable and more varied; and how in course of time he hit on striking inventions in the fields of transit, communication, agriculture, commerce, and industry. We are shown how in later times he has set himself to extirpate what he believes to be the causes of famine and disease. Still more recently, he has demonstrated new control over nature in the achievements of aviation and radiotelegraphy. Nevertheless, the world is still from time to time afflicted by disasters such as droughts and earthquakes, which are supposed to be largely beyond human control. For a very large part of mankind existence still appears as a prolonged struggle against nature, which is likely to end only with death, itself supposedly a natural phenomenon.

Quite apart from this involuntary and seemingly unavoidable struggle against their environment, men have in all ages, and particularly in recent and more settled times, sought out and enjoyed, as explorers, navigators, mountaineers, and the like, adventurous exploits which can be represented as challenges to wild nature. Such activities, moreover, are sometimes given as encouraging examples of how the restless and combative instinct of mankind, which might otherwise take destructive form, may be guided into harmless or useful channels. It is often said, for instance, that if the practice of war is to be banished from human experience some corresponding peaceful alternative, or moral equivalent, must be provided; and most people would hold that at the present stage of human thought such an equivalent must necessarily include the element of physical effort and conscious struggle.

There is undoubtedly something attractive in this notion of a battle against nature. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of progress of any kind apart from some striving to attain. Nevertheless, when examined in the light of Christian Science, the notion is seen to rest on false assumptions and to be practically harmful. For the notion of a struggle between mankind and nature implies that the two are at variance: that nature is hostile, or at best neutral, to mankind's aspiration and endeavor. It implies also that man is less than God's reflection; that he needs something, or thinks that he needs something, which he does not already possess; that he is consequently incomplete, imperfect, not entirely harmonious; further, that he is actuated by a personal fallible will, which may clash with other wills. It necessarily implies, also, that both man and nature are at least partially material. Such suggestions are incompatible with the true character of God, man, and the universe.

Christian Science teaches us that in reality nothing exists except God and that which expresses Him; that God is Spirit, Mind, Love; that accordingly man and the universe is spiritual, intelligent, and loving. The Stoic philosphers of old believed, as modern pantheists believe, that God and nature are one, but to them the divine substance was material. Such is not the teaching of Christian Science. As Mrs. Eddy states in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 119), "In one sense God is identical with nature, but this nature is spiritual and is not expressed in matter." We see, therefore, that in Science man and nature are alike spiritual, alike manifestations of the one all-intelligent, all-loving, omnipotent Mind. It would be absurd to suppose that the ideas of this Mind could hurt one another, or in any way clash or be at variance. On the contrary, since both are active expressions of omnipotent Love, they can only co-operate. This thought gives new and practical meaning to such a statement as that in Job (5:23), "Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." Indeed, in the reality of being, any struggle is excluded by the fact that nothing exists but Love, and its manifestation.

How, then, is the notion of a struggle with material nature so deeply ingrained in human consciousness? It is due to the false picture of man and the universe presented by the material senses, a picture which exhibits both as material and imperfect and quite unlike God, Spirit. As Mrs. Eddy puts it (ibid., p. 118): "The definitions of material law, as given by natural science, represent a kingdom necessarily divided against itself, because these definitions portray law as physical, not spiritual. Therefore they contradict the divine decrees and violate the law of Love, in which nature and God are one and the natural order of heaven comes down to earth."

It is not necessary, however, to accept this false picture. Christian Scientists know from experience that, in so far as they reject it and hold in consciousness the true idea of man and nature as wholly spiritual, the human belief of struggle and limitation yields to the scientific fact of harmony and dominion. As we realize the spiritual facts of dominion and harmony, and make use of them in practice, we find that the elimination of strife does not mean the end of invention and improvement, nor yet of the joy of fruitful living. It means only the end of whatever seems to clog right activities with uncertainty and pain, which are expressions of materiality. Spiritualization of thought frees the concept of progress from these encumbrances, so that the true idea of progress stands out clearly.

Thus, by right thinking, men can and do secure the end commonly described as controlling nature or modifying human environment. As one's thoughts change, one's environment changes, for, as Christian Science teaches us, we live in a thought world—a world which to false sense is the embodiment of mortal, material thinking, but which in reality consists of the perfect and immortal ideas of the Mind which is Love. Mrs. Eddy writes (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 331): "Midst the falling leaves of old-time faiths, above the frozen crust of creed and dogma, the divine Mind-force, filling all space and having all power, upheaves the earth. In sacred solitude divine Science evolved nature as thought, and thought as things. This supreme potential Principle reigns in the realm of the real, and is 'God with us,' the I AM. As mortals awake from their dream of material sensation, this adorable, all-inclusive God, and all earth's hieroglyphics of Love, are understood." Such an awakening, such an understanding, such an unfoldment of reality must supply every element of true progress and achievement, and bring to light man's dominion over all the earth.